Printed Portfolio

[Ibrahim]

I wasn't entirely sure where to post this, so I hope this is ok.

Anyhoo, my question is, is it important to have a printed version of your portfolio, especially to have at hand during an interview?

I'm just asking this, to find out whether or not I should invest some time and a little money on some high quality prints of my work.

[Talon]

If you're going for an interview, yes, bring along a printed version.

It's very likely they'll want to ask questions about your work and refresh their memories of the work you've done, having a hard copy with you is a good idea.

I'm not sure how worried you should be about it being an expensively printed copy, though. As much as it looks nice, at the end of the day it's just an aide and it's your skills and attitude at the interview that'll sell you.

I've done fine with just making sure I get a good quality inkjet print on card and in a nice folder... nothing too high-grade.

[Ibrahim]

Well that clears things up nicely. Thanks

Might also be a good idea to have PDF version of the printed portfolio on the site, so it can be downloaded, like I have with my CV.

[Talon]

No probs

One thing I found out is that renders that look good on the screen can often turn out pretty dark and hard to read on paper. It might be worth doing a test page with images at different brightness/contrast settings to cehck what works before printing the entire thing.

[Ghostscape]

Having a printed portfolio is probably a good idea for interviews, but it's essential for conventions - when I went to GDC in 2007 only a handful of people had printed portfolios. Being able to stick my artwork in front of someone instantly and point at things and not have to deal with finicky web connections, slow CD drives, etc (many people don't have laptops out or are not set up to be viewing portfolios en-masse), allowed me to get a lot more interest than if I was relying on my boyish charm and movie-star looks.

Definitely do some test prints and adjust your images accordingly so you get things looking nice, and get them printed on good paper on a good printer. Don't go spending $10 a page, but don't hamper yourself with a $60 home inkjet on cheap paper. Stick it in a binder to make it easy to keep straight and navigate. Carry this around with you, and keep digital versions of your portfolio or business cards available to hand to interested parties who would like a copy of your portfolio.

[thanoz]

For less than $100 you can get at least a dozen give-away portfolios (thin plastic with plastic sheets) printed out with like 15 pages+ a piece if you just use Kinko's. Go for 1 page each of their laser option or their basic color option and see which gives you the best results for the money. I don't suggest trying to print out 200+ pages of material on your home inkjet if you don't have to, but if it is the only option expect to replace a lot of ink cartridges... For any game convention you should try to stock at least a dozen portfolios + cd with demo reel on it so they get the full combo in person. They'll probably chuck it all later so don't get leatherbound stuff.

[Hourences]

Its certainly a good idea. When you go on interview somewhere, the persons who interview you might have forgotten most of your work already, or they might have only looked at a few pieces. Also, if you have worked on projects that are still a little confidential, you can't put those screenshots of those online, but you could print them out and show them at the interview, that is perfectly accepted.

I have a 80 page photo book that was quite cheap. I just had a photo company print out all my screenshots like real photos, and put them in a photo album I bought somewhere. That version is obviously not meant for giving away though.
You can also use sites like Lulu.com where you can easily assemble a portfolio book, and have as many copies as you want send home.

[[hP]]

Yup, it's surely a good idea.

plus, It's also a good idea to bring along a CD or DVD with some or all the samples of your work. That way, they can easily put the CD into a PC and check your work out.